| Upswing in stocks
NEW YORK (AP) "" Stocks ended higher in volatile trading Thursday as investors weighed fears about mounting tension in Iran against a report that indicated better-than-expected U.S. economic growth. The major indexes bounced around, and spent most of the session looking for direction as crude prices surged to a six-month high. Investors remain nervous about the West's response to British sailors held captive in Iran, and oil prices crossed the $66 mark. This offset the Commerce Department's final measure of fourth-quarter gross domestic product, which showed growth of 2.5 percent. That could help quell concerns the economy is slowing too quickly. At the same time, strong economic growth could make it harder for the inflation-wary Federal Reserve to cut short-term interest rates.
Study: CalPERS and CalSTRS have $21B impact on state
The statewide economic impact of retirement payments by the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System reached $21.1 billion in 2006, according to a study released Thursday. The Applied Research Center at California State University Sacramento analyzed the impact of benefit payments to 674,000 retirees and their beneficiaries. Dr. Robert Fountain, research center director, and Dr. Robert Waste, professor of public policy, determined that the $13.8 billion in retirement benefits paid in 2006 created a $7.3 billion "ripple effect," for a total $21.1 billion impact. .
The tourist speaks
“What's it like living in a tourist center?" the Canadian asked me as we bounced across the Mesopotamian Plain in the back of a taxi. It was a good question and one I had wondered about before deciding to settle in Göreme. The answer, rather surprisingly, turned out to be that from day to day tourism intrudes on our lives much less than you might expect. Of course, shops and restaurants can get away with charging higher prices, and from April through to October it can be hard to have an unbroken conversation with friends who work in tourism. However, once you settle in a tourist area, the visitors tend to retreat to the wings while fellow residents move center stage. Of course, many tourists become firm friends. Others also leave a lasting impression, although not necessarily the one they intended.
Village to Consider Incentive Program for MVAC
Tonight at Mineola Village Hall, 155 Washington Avenue, there will be a hearing on an incentive program for members of the Mineola Volunteer Ambulance Corps (MVAC). The program, would essentially allocate monies in future budgets to pay for a pension for members of MVAC who qualify. .
NFLPA tries to silence vocal alums
In a move to silence retired professional football players who have called for reforms to health and pension benefits, the NFL Players Association has threatened to dissolve alumni chapters whose leaders who speak out against the union. Memos sent recently from Andre Collins - the NFLPA's director of retired players - to chapters across the country notified alumni presidents that leaders engaging in conduct deemed detrimental to the NFLPA could lead to their organizations being closed. "If this happens, the NFLPA is infringing on my rights as an American to speak out," said Wade Manning, the NFLPA's Denver alumni president who played for the Broncos and Dallas Cowboys in the late 1970s and early 1980s. "I left body parts on stadium floors. I should be able to say what I want." Former NFL players have become more vocal in recent years about the long-term physical and mental problems they have resulting from their playing days.
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